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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24963469">Deaths in Battle</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Lilith/pseuds/Lady_Lilith'>Lady_Lilith</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:40:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,976</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24963469</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Lilith/pseuds/Lady_Lilith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Battle of Hogwarts left more scars than imagined. It took years for them to heal and they did it together. Healing takes time. Years and sometimes decades. Harry and Hermione lost, now they heal. If only someone would let them heal in peace.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Deaths in Battle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was made based on a headcannon I was inspired to make in the Harmony discord after a discussion with anothe user.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Battle of Hogwarts was heated. Bodies littered the floor, both friend and foe. It was hard to focus with the familiar faces and innocents laying there. Harry, let his anger fuel all his spells having just witnessed Ron's fate. There was no honor in it. No glory.</p><p>Ron had been hit was a stray spell that had deflected from someone's shield. No time to warm him. No time to dodge it. As his body fell to the ground, an arumantcula was revealed behind where Ron once stood. The creature wasted no time in sinking its fangs into Harry's first friend.</p><p>Spell after spell, there seemed to be no end to their losses. Hermione was going toe to toe with her previous captor, Bellatrix LeStrange, alongside Neville. The witch was fast, but Hermione's spells were agile and would be painful should they land on the horrendous woman. Suddenly, Bellatrix was grinning as she released a slew of spells. Putting up a strong shield was Neville and Hermione's only option. But to their shock, the last three spells weren't aimed at them. They skewed to their right. Hermione turned and saw Ginny standing wide-eyed at the monster approaching the Battle calmly.</p><p>Voldemort was a man she hadn't wished to see again in her lifetime. Ginny wanted to move and she should have, she wasn't under a spell. But the sight of her once friend, once mentor, once captor, once tormentor kept her still. She didn't see the spells coming. The last thing Ginny saw was Tom Riddle look directly at her and her world was gone.</p><p>.....</p><p>Intermission of the Battle left Harry and Hermione to collect their friends. Harry shocked at how close their losses were. Hermione numb from exhaustion and the deaths she witnessed.<br/>They were huddled together, a few short feet away from the Weasley's who were mourning the deaths of their youngest. Molly turned to bring Harry and Hermione to join them. But she was devastated to see the two holding hands and each other in their state of shock.</p><p>_____</p><p> </p><p>Five years after the War was over, Harry and Hermione find themselves having dinner with the Weasley family. They visited when they could. Their careers kept them busy and they spent their free time still healing from the emotional wounds of war. As much as Harry loved the Weasley’s, he didn’t stay around them as much anymore. It felt wrong without Ron and Ginny there. Everything felt wrong without his best mate. Harry didn’t have a horcrux to stay angry like their months in hiding. Harry couldn’t be mad at Ron anymore. It’s rude to think ill of the dead. So, Harry kept a good image of Ron in his mind. Not the jealous and angry one he’d become in that forest.</p><p>Harry thought of Ginny. The girl a lot of people had come to think he’d marry right out of Hogwarts, like his parents. Harry used to find the comparison between himself and his parents a comfort, but when it came to Ginny, he was uncomfortable. He felt like it would have been an obligation. Too fast. Too reckless even. Having no childhood and barely any time to live as a normal teenager, rushing into marriage didn’t seem appealing Harry wanted to live and see the world after Hogwarts. He did, with Hermione by his side. </p><p>In truth, they needed time away from Britain. Form the destruction and smell of death everywhere. They stayed away from forests in their travels. The went to places by boat, airplane, and car. They stayed in inns, no camping gear in sight, they couldn’t stand the sight of it. They travelled for a year before returning home. Both privately finished their education. Both worked together at the Ministry. They’d been essentially handed the jobs, which irked Hermione to no end. But, for change to come, it needed to be now. Everyone wanted the input of the war heroines. The opinion of the brightest witch of her age. The plans of the man-who-lived-twice. A title that Harry dismissed with finality. </p><p>Harry and Hermione got in contact with the Weasley’s a year and a half after their return to Britain. The pair saw the twin's shop was up and running on their first trip to Diagon Alley but couldn’t find it in themselves to go inside. Incidentally, they ran into the twins outside the doors of Gringotts after a trip to acquire some funds and manage their vaults. Fred and George were understanding, they themselves hadn’t bene visiting the Borrow often. Having their own place to live and now living with their girlfriends, they didn’t need to spend nights in their old home. It didn’t feel right for them either.</p><p>“Charlie stayed at the Burrow with our parents for a few months to help them cope. He’s back in Romania now, but he lives in Bulgaria. Found a pretty woman who loves his scars and dragons there.”</p><p>“Bill visits when he can with his daughter Victorie, she’s almost two now. Fleur doesn’t come with them often. Mum makes… comments like she did with… with… our sister before the wedding. She brings them both up a lot. Mum hasn’t fully moved on. Ginny was her little girl and Ron was her baby boy.”</p><p>“Percy comes to the Burrow with his wife and son every night for dinner except Wednesdays or nights he has work late.”</p><p>“Then there’s us. We don’t visit often because mum is harping for more grandchildren. She already has two, but she wants more. Fleur is about five months along with her and Bill’s second baby. But mum says we need to propose to Angelina and Katie by next year. It’s kind of scary lately, we know she means well. But we like the pace our relationships are going.”</p><p>When the conversation shifted to Harry and Hermione, Hermione gave Harry and encouraging hand squeeze. Their hands had been hidden slightly out of sight since they started talking to the twins. Harry pulled their joined hands forward so the twins could see. </p><p>“Well, Hermione and I are dating. We aren’t sure exactly when we started. It all comes naturally. I think it was towards the end of our hunt before the Battle. Hermione says it was when we started our travelling after the war.”</p><p>“We share a flat in muggle London. Keep to ourselves mostly, work keeps us busy. But I’m sure you know about the changes we’ve been working on implementing…”</p><p>After Hermione finished talked, the twins shared a look,</p><p>“It’s about time you two got together. We thought for sure it would’ve happened after we graduated, but with the war and everything… I guess it got put off?”</p><p>It was the twins that reintroduced Harry and Hermione to their family. Bill was happy to see them and happy for their status, as was Fleur. Charlie was happy to know his departed brother’s friends were doing well. Percy didn’t have much of an opinion other than how much good they were doing for their society. Even Arthur was happy for them. But Molly’s eyes glossed over at the sight of them standing close to each other. The first dinner had been awkward. Molly had seated Harry and Hermione opposite of each other. When Hermione causally shared in a conversation that,</p><p>“Our flat isn’t far from the Ministry entry in London.”</p><p>Molly burst into tears. Everyone stopped eating and Molly blustered,</p><p>“You two are sharing a living space? That is highly inappropriate.”</p><p>Even as Molly said the words, she knew the truth. She knew what she’d seen at the Battle of Hogwarts was how it was going to be for the rest of their lives. It was Harry that said it to her though, </p><p>“Hermione and I are dating Mrs. Weasley. For about two years now.”</p><p>Harry wanted to share in complete honesty that they’d been technically living together since the attack at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. Somehow though, he knew saying that would break the Weasley matriarch.</p><p>.......</p><p> </p><p>Now five years after the war, Harry and Hermione knew full well why the twins didn’t come as often, even with their new fiancé’s. The dinners at the Burrow felt borderline hostile to Hermione. To Harry, it felt guilt trippy. Molly’s comments were so marital that her family doubted she even realized who she hurt when she said them, </p><p>“You and Ginny would be married by now. You too Hermione. Ron would’ve asked you right here at the Burrow”</p><p>“Ginny would have given me a grandchild by now. Ron would probably have put it off, right Hermione?”</p><p>Hermione always wore her hair down for these dinners so that no one would see when tears would come to her eyes. Harry would get agitated. Agitated because he could see the future Molly rambled on about needlessly. He saw himself unhappy and putting on a happy face. He saw himself not knowing what he was doing, not having any good fatherly figure in his life. He saw himself living Ginny’s dream and he wouldn’t dare say it out loud. As much as Molly’s grief was meant to be respected, Harry and Hermione were hurt and constantly reminded of what others had expected of them. Harry and Hermione were happy in their relationship, but Rita Skeeter even tried to call their relationship “second-best since their true loves were killed.” Hermione got the foul woman sent to Azkaban for slander and falsifying information in a major news source for years, as well as being an illegal anigamus.</p><p>Harry and Hermione didn’t tell Molly about their engagement, she found out from the papers. They had gotten engaged four years after the end of the war. Since then, Molly’s comments had lessened, but they still stung. So much so, that the new Potter’s only came to the Burrow on holidays, and they’d only stay for a few hours. </p><p>When it was announced that Harry and Hermione were having their first child seven years after the end of the war, Molly’s grief was healing. The comments stopped, but tears were still in her eyes. She was truly happy that Harry and Hermione had each other. She only wished that she could have seen them with her departed children. It had taken her too long in her mind to accent it. But Molly knew they were the perfect fit. Britain’s magical world was prosperous in their guidance and if rumors are correct, Hermione would soon be the next Minister of Magic and Harry the Head of the Aurora Department. Molly was grateful for their hard work. They got justice for her children and all the other children killed in the war. Her son’s killer faced trial. Bellatrix had fallen to Neville’s wand in the final half of the Battle of Hogwarts. Nevertheless, it took time for her to heal, now she can let the dead lay to rest and move forward. Afterall, she had plenty of grandchildren to look after, most in their terrible twos.</p><p>Pleased by the change in Molly, everyone started coming around again. Even Harry and Hermione would let Molly babysit their children. Jaime Orion Potter and Lillian Rose Potter were their first children, now the age three. A set of twins. Roland Nevan Potter was their third child, only a few months old. Hermione was already pregnant again, this time she was sure it was another set of twins. She laughed at Harry’s expression. He’d been doing swell as a father. He bonded with each of them the moment they were born. Harry was happier than he’d ever thought he’d be in his life. The world was a safe place she his children came into it. His wife was happy and still in love with him as ever. Harry knew love in many different ways now. Harry now knew the love of family.</p>
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